Bloody Mary Tudor
Mary I (February 18th, 1516 – November 17th, 1558) was the Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death. Her opponents gave her the name "Bloody Mary". She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547. When Edward became mortally ill in 1553, he attempted to remove Mary from the line of succession because of religious differences. On his death, their cousin Lady Jane Grey was at first proclaimed queen. Mary assembled a force in East Anglia and successfully deposed Jane, who was ultimately beheaded. In 1554, Mary married Philip of Spain, becoming queen consort of Habsburg Spain on his accession in 1556. As the fourth crowned monarch of the Tudor dynasty, Mary is remembered for her restoration of Roman Catholicism after the short-lived Protestant reign of her half-brother. During her five-year reign, she had over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in the Marian Persecutions. Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was reversed after her death in 1558 by her younger half-sister and successor, Elizabeth I. Mary is remembered in the 21st century for her vigorous efforts to restore the primacy of Roman Catholicism in England after the rise of Protestant influence during the short-lived reign of her half-brother, Edward. Protestant historians have long denigrated her reign, emphasizing that in just five years she burned several hundred Protestants at the stake in the Marian persecutions. In the mid-20th century, H. F. M. Prescott attempted to redress the tradition that Mary was intolerant and authoritarian, and scholarship since then has tended to view the older, simpler assessments of Mary with increasing reservations. A historiographical revisionism since the 1980s has to some degree improved her reputation among scholars. Christopher Haigh argued that her revival of religious festivities and Catholic practices was generally welcomed. Haigh concluded that the "last years of Mary's reign were not a gruesome preparation for Protestant victory, but a continuing consolidation of Catholic strength." Catholic historians, such as John Lingard, thought Mary's policies failed not because they were wrong but because she had too short a reign to establish them and because of natural disasters beyond her control. In other countries, the Catholic Counter-Reformation was spearheaded by Jesuit missionaries; Mary's chief religious advisor, Cardinal Reginald Pole, refused to allow the Jesuits into England. Her marriage to Philip was unpopular among her subjects and her religious policies resulted in deep-seated resentment. The military loss of Calais to France was a bitter humiliation to English pride. Failed harvests increased public discontent. Philip spent most of his time abroad, while his wife remained in England, leaving her depressed at his absence and undermined by their inability to have children. After Mary's death, Philip sought to marry Elizabeth but she refused him. Although Mary's rule was ultimately ineffectual and unpopular, the policies of fiscal reform, naval expansion, and colonial exploration that were later lauded as Elizabethan accomplishments were started in Mary's reign Video The Most Evil Women In History Bloody Mary Tudor XviD Category:List Category:Monarchs Category:Fanatics Category:Arsonist Category:Mentally Ill Category:Karma Houdini Category:Xenophobes Category:Extremists Category:Dictator Category:Deceased Category:Early Modern Villains Category:Liars Category:God Wannabe Category:The Most Evil Men and Women in History Villains (version 4) Category:Misanthropes Category:Sadists Category:Psychopath Category:Faux Affably Evil Category:United Kingdom Category:Tyrants Category:Mongers Category:Murderer Category:Abusers Category:Emotionless Villains Category:Egotist Category:Family of Victim Category:The Most Evil Men and Women in History (2001- ) Category:Chaotic Evil Category:Corrupt Officials Category:Heretics Category:Fallen Heroes Category:Vengeful Category:Wrathful Category:Mass Murderers Category:Homicidal Category:Power Hungry Category:Evil vs Evil Category:Dark Priest Category:Propagandist Category:Anti-Christian Category:Lawful Evil Category:Supremacists